5 things to know about Trump's executive orders and immigrants in Massachusetts

Monday

Mar 6, 2017 at 4:35 PMMar 6, 2017 at 6:43 PM

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Caitlyn Kelleher Wicked Local staff @CMKelleher

1.

President Donald Trump signed a second executive order limiting those who can come into the United States on Monday, March 6.

The order, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorists Entry into the United States,” has as its stated purpose to “protect citizens from terrorist attacks, including those committed by foreign nationals.”

The suspension of entry has a few exceptions, including lawful permanent residents of the United States, people who have dual citizenship with one of these countries but are traveling on a passport issued by a non-designated country and those traveling on diplomatic passports.

“Each of these countries is a state sponsor of terrorism, has been significantly compromised by terrorist organizations or contains active conflict zones,” reads the executive order. “Any of these circumstances diminishes the foreign government’s willingness or ability to share or validate important information about individuals seeking to travel to the United States."

The order also suspends travel of refugees into the United States for 120 days and limits the number of refugees entering the United States this year to 50,000 people.

3.

There are 1,053,605 foreign-born residents in Massachusetts. This represents nearly 16 percent of Massachusetts’ population, according to a report from the New American Economy.

The report states about 7 percent of these people immigrated since 2010.

Foreign-born residents of Massachusetts are likely to be U.S. citizens. In 2014, 52.1 percent immigrants in Massachusetts were already U.S. citizens, according to the New American Economy report. Nationally, 47.3 percent of immigrants are U.S. citizens.

4.

More than 1,900 refugees settled in Massachusetts in 2015, according to the Massachusetts Virtual Epidemiologic Network. Approximately 87 percent of those refugees were from African, Near East or South Asian countries. The largest number are from Somalia and Iraq.

In 2015, the numbers of refugees settling in Massachusetts from those countries were 356 from Somalia, 88 from Syria, 40 from Sudan, 10 from Iran, one from Yemen and zero from Libya.

5.

The first executive order Trump signed Jan. 28 was under legal scrutiny and based on a court order from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit cannot be enforced at this time.

Trump’s newest order revoked the previous executive order, which also mandated a temporary limitation on refugees and immigrants from Iraq.